HP Envy

While not exactly at IFA, HP is joining in on the IFA 2014 fun by announcing a new series of notebooks and hybrids. These include two new ENVY x2's and a Pavilion x2, both Windows tablet/laptop hybrids, and two new members of Google's Chrome OS devices, an 11-inch and a 14-inch Chromebook, the latter sporting an NVIDIA Tegra K1 chip.

This week the folks at Leap Motion have made clear their intention to dive ever-deeper into the world of high-powered electronics, hitting a real-deal HP notebook here for starters. This is the first of what may be a series of HP/Leap Motion connections, given their announcement of co-development earlier this year. This is the HP ENVY17 Leap Motion Special Edition notebook, complete with Leap Motion's own 3D motion control technology embedded into the very hardware.

HP has a lot of laptops these days, and they all have their own unique look, but the company never really has had a signature style these past few years. However, they refreshed their line of desktops and laptops today for 2013, and while school just let out for the summer, it's never to late to begin shopping for a college laptop for the fall.

HP dove into the Windows 8 ecosystem without hesitation, and the results of that effort are tons of new laptops and desktop computers, some of which are the company’s new ENVY TouchSmart all-in-one series of Windows 8 machines, which we first heard about back in September. They have an entry-level 20-inch model, as well as a 23-inch variant that we took for a spin. It has a fast quad-core processor, quick graphics, a lot of system memory, and a huge hard drive, not to mention the 1080p touchscreen. It’ll cost you, though: around $1,700 for this particular build, but the ENVY 23 TouchSmart (model d060qd) definitely has all the specs to make anyone happy. However, is it right for everyone? Let’s find out.

This week we're seeing another wave of wonderful computers presented by HP for the start of the Windows 8 era, working here with brand new HP ENVY 20 TouchSmart and 23 TouchSmart, both of them all-in-one PCs with full touchscreen capabilities. Inside you'll find 3rd Generation Intel processors - that's Ivy Bridge, mind you - along with Beats Audio and HP TrueVision webcam technology as well. These devices will bring you the power of the next generation of Windows-toting machines will keeping it all compact in HP's newest all-in-one designs.

This week we've gotten the opportunity to have a peek at three of HP's newest touchscreen notebooks, each of them having been announced just this week and each of them coming with no less than Windows 8 right out of the box. The first of these is the HP SpectreXT TouchSmart Ultrabook - a device working with a 15.6-inch IPS LCD screen and Radiance Full HD for brilliant visuals. Next is the HP ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4 with a 14-inch multitouch HD display and Beats Audio under the hood. Then there's the lovely HP ENVY x2, complete with its own detachable tablet PC portion making this a Windows 8 "hybrid PC" - a PC first, and a tablet second.

With one of its very first devices to work with Windows 8 right out of the box, HP brings the ENVY x2 - a "hybrid PC" otherwise known as a tablet with a keyboard dock. This device works as its own 11.6-inch touchscreen tablet and is able to dock magnetically with a keyboard that then turns it into a notebook computer. HP is making sure consumers do not lump it in with the mobile transforming tablet universe by calling the HP ENVY x2 a hybrid PC first and foremost.

What we have here today is the shiny new HP ENVY 4 Ultrabook sporting a 3rd gen Intel Core-i5 dual-core processor and of course those Beats Audio speakers. It packs a lot of power under the hood and all folded up will only be about 0.78″ thick, but is this enough to earn your dollars? Head down past the break and we'll find out.

HP's new ENVY 4 Ultrabook has landed on the SlashGear test bench this week. Complete with a sleek and impressive design, dual-stereo Beats Audio speakers, and Intel's 3rd Gen Ivy Bridge dual-core i5 processor. Back in May we received our first glance at the new ENVY Ultrabook, but today we've given it another look in a quick hands-on video. More details, pictures, and specs are available after the break.

This week HP has revealed the next generation in their Spectre line with the HP ENVY Spectre XP, a notebook with style and power to spare. This notebook works with Beats Audio, has a backlit keyboard, and has a lovely slim-bezel 13.3-inch display. The whole unit measures in at 14.5mm thin and weighs just 3.07 pounds, yet contains no less than the 3rd Generation Intel Core line of processors as well as a 128GB SSD.